


Stag and Doe

by JuweWright



Series: The Marauders Series [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-21
Updated: 2014-08-16
Packaged: 2018-02-05 15:20:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1823161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JuweWright/pseuds/JuweWright
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set in sixth year of the Marauder's time. In Defence against the Dark Arts, there's a new challenge coming up... which leads to interesting results.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Second in my Marauders series. This one is for A. because she wanted "more, more, more, more". Also, it was such enormous fun to write the first one (I did not even know how much I loved Sirius and Remus before) so it was pretty clear there would be more coming up. This is going to come up in two parts, but it's pretty much just a loooong one-shot.

Remus Lupin had never been more annoyed in his life. And Sirius, James and Peter laughing their heads off whilst walking up to the castle didn’t make it any better, nor did the fact that he had wolf-hair all over his robe and smelt like a wet dog. And the only one he could blame for this was professor Kettleburn who had decided it was a splendid day to take her class into the forbidden forest to introduce them to the Zentaurs. The Zentaurs had been quite all right, even friendly, although they had been talking about the stars a bit too much in the shared opinion of the Marauders who disliked divination ever since they had spent their first lesson staring into glass balls pretending to see anything more than wavering mist.

  
What had not been all right were the wolves. Remus knew he started to smell differently when the “furry problem” was about to occur – a fact that Sirius had noticed in his dog-shape – but he had never expected the effect it would have on ordinary wolves in the forest until it had been too late. He had been walking down the path with Lily Evans who had been complaining about their transformation homework, when suddenly a pack of grey creatures had burst from the undergrowth and thrown him down, howling, barking and licking his face like tame dogs. Most of the other Gryffindors and pretty much all of the Hufflepuff students had been frightened by the wolves. When he had finally freed himself of their unwanted devotions he had been faced with a surly-looking professor Kettleburn, a worried-looking Lily and three idiots who had been laughing so hard they were close to wetting themselves.

  
“Sirius, I think Remus might want a dog biscuit. He looks a bit grumpy back there”, said James loudly.

Sirius began to rummage in his pockets and finally produced a half-empty packet of “McNeil’s Dog Treats”. It was a secret not shared with many that Sirius’ becoming an Animagus – which was one of the best-kept secrets in Hogwarts anyways - had had certain side-effects one of which was an unknown appetite for all kinds of meat the other one being his sudden outbursts of craving for dog biscuits. Remus had consulted a couple of books on the subject and there was no recorded case of these symptoms in the whole history of Animagi. Silently, he had just decided that Sirius enjoyed being a dog a little too much and it was more of a psychological issue than a truly physical problem.

  
Sirius pulled out a dog biscuit and walked back to Remus his hand outstretched. The surrounding students roared with laughter. They had recovered from the shock of having a dozen wolves jump at one in their midst and now enjoyed the show. Remus considered punching his best friend on the nose but although Sirius was smiling and playing along with the prank, his eyes showed a look of concern. Remus smiled and took the biscuit.

  
“Gee thanks”, he said, breaking it in two handing the other half back to his friend, who immediately started chewing away happily, which led to a few disgusted grunts from the Hufflepuff girls.

  
“So, double Defence against the Dark Arts now, isn’t it?”

  
Lily had walked up to them, ready to punch Sirius or James in the face if they went too far. Finding there was no need for her to do so she fell into step next to Remus who was nibbling the dog biscuit. He would never understand why Sirius loved this stuff so much. It tasted stale and salty.

  
“Oh yeah”, he mumbled. “With your precious Slytherins.”

  
He was still not over Severus Snape hiding a dung bomb underneath his seat during the last lesson. The prank had probably not been his idea but carried the signature of his best mates Mulciber and Avery, but Remus did not like idiotic pranks if they meant walking around in smelly clothes for the rest of the day with people turning their heads sniffing to find the source of the odour. It had taken him two hours in the library to research and try out all the anti-smell-charms he could find and he was not willing to go back to his “live and let live” attitude towards Lily’s oldest friend yet.

  
The Slytherins had already entered the classroom when the Gryffindors filed in through the doors. The wolf-incident had caused a slight delay, but Professor Perkins did not scold them but only nodded and told them to sit down. As always there seemed to be a clear dividing line between the Gryffindor pupils on the left and the Slytherin students on the right. The only mixed table stood in the middle of the back row. The friendship of Lily Evans and Severus Snape had been the subject of many rumours and tales. When they had been sorted into the rivalling houses of Gryffindor and Slytherin, pretty much everyone had expected their friendship to ease off and end. But Severus Snape was smitten by Lily and although he had become friends with two of the worst Slytherins on the planet, he would have given his life for the emerald-eyed witch. Still, most had expected Lily to turn away from the greasy-haired unpopular boy and towards flamboyant James Potter who was something like the Gryffindor house-hero. But Lily had stayed close to Snape, as close as she could without betraying her beliefs and opinions. And even after six years of house rivalry, the two of them were still sharing a table in Defence against the Dark Arts class. Remus could not help but be impressed.

  
As usual in Defence against the Dark Arts, James teamed up with Peter and Sirius teamed up with Remus. The simple reason for that combination was that James was pretty good in class and also pretty good in covering up Peter’s being incredibly bad. Remus and Sirius had found out that if they needed to face one of the creatures that Professor Perkins came up with on their own, they would most likely do a good job, but if they teamed up they were absolutely invincible. Their combined work had earned Gryffindor more house points in a month than Lily’s had done in two and that was something to boast of.

  
Alex Perkins was a good teacher. The best they had ever had in Defence against the Dark Arts yet. He was pretty young for a teacher, only in his thirties, but he had a way to be authoritative and friendly at the same time. The first time the rather short man had walked into class, the Slytherins had been prepared to give him a hard time, but the way he carried himself had stopped them from doing it. Perkins might look like a schoolboy at first glance, with his dishevelled black hair and his robes that looked as if an older brother – who was considerably taller – had handed them down to him, but his step was powerful and determined, his voice clear and darker than one would have expected from a man of his stature. He had become a favourite with the Gryffindors and the Slytherins alike which was something that no teacher had ever achieved before. Perkin's classes usually were mostly practical. He brought in a creature of some sort or an object that had been created by use of dark magic. And he let them try their own skills without ever losing the control of the situation.

  
They had already had trolls in class – Sirius and Remus had finally beaten it by shouting at it from opposite sides of the room so it kept turning on the spot until it got dizzy and fell down, crashing a few tables – and last week Professor Perkins had brought in a Boggart and showed them the Riddiculus spell. It had been a nasty lesson for both Remus and Sirius who had both been a bit surprised by the shapes the Boggart had taken when they had faced it. Remus had been confronted with a full moon that had made the hair on his neck stand up and Sirius had had to face pretty much his whole family, who kept pointing their fingers at him hissing that he was a shame for the Black family, because he had become a Gryffindor rather than a Slytherin as it was family tradition. Especially his mother had featured in a prominent role, calling him a blood-traitor and hissing at him.

  
Lily Evans had saved the day as always. She had jumped in front of both of them, faced her muggle sister, who had shouted at her in a rage, telling her she was a jerk and crazy and creepy and had turned her into a goose. Severus had given her the high five and winked both times. The story of Petunia Evans was one that only he knew completely and James had watched them sulkily. Remus knew that one of the main issues James had with Severus was that Severus had been there before him. And although Lily did not seem to see the Slytherin boy as anything more than a friend, he still kept the advantage of longer acquaintance.

  
„Today“, began Professor Perkins and immediately the class became quiet.

One last paper-plane landed right in front of the teacher's desk as Perkins began to stride up and down in front of them, gesticulating while he talked.

„Today you are going to try a spell that most wizards never master properly. I don't expect you to manage it. I am only expecting you to try. I will teach you the basics and you can keep practicing it later. The spell I am going to teach you is the Patronus charm. It comes in handy if you ever find yourself attacked by a dementor, which I hope will never be the case. Who knows what a Dementor is and can explain it in a few short sentences that will not tire the concentration-span of Mulciber and Avery? Guys I have seen that dung bomb. Let me tell you that the repetition of a joke is hardly ever as funny as it was the first time and this one was lame to start with, so just leave it be, okay? Fine. Dementors. Who's got a clue? Ah, Severus Snape.“

  
Snape had raised his hand and now explained with his strange dark nasal voice, that a Dementor was a faceless hooded creature that sucked the happiness out of people and even could eat their souls when it kissed them.

„They guard the prisoners of Azkaban“, he said finally, before shrinking in his seat as if he wished nobody would look at him any more.

Lily looked at him with a big proud smile. James mimicked the act of puking over his books.

  
„Patronuses repell Dementors“, explained Professor Perkins, quickly drawing a hooded figure on the blackboard and writing the words „Dementor“ and „Patronus“ underneath.

  
„The Patronus takes a unique shape for every wizard. Expecto Patronum.“

  
A flash of white light burst from the tip of his wand and formed into a roaring lioness that strode up and down the aisle before vanishing again.

„You have heard the spell“ said Perkins, stopping in the middle of his stride and turning towards the class. „But does that suffice? Miss Evans?“

Lily had raised her hand and now explained eagerly: „No, it doesn't. To conjure a Patronus one has to think of a good memory and visualise it. If you can't think of a strong enough memory or can't focus on it properly, the spell is not going to work.“

  
„Exactly, Miss Evans, ten points to Gryffindor for that. Oh, and ten points for Slytherin as well for Mr Snape's knowledge about Dementors. So, we will try this now. Wands out. Think of a memory first, then try to cast the charm. Don't get frustrated if it doesn't work immediately. I told you, there are few wizards who can do this. Especially the focussing is the hard part. If you can't focus properly, you will cast a shapeless Patronus which is not half as strong as the properly shaped one. I think we might be lucky if some of you manage to conjure one of these shapeless Patronusses in the next hour. Anyone who manages to get one wins a chocolate frog and twenty points.“

  
With this, he sat down on the teacher's desk and watched them scramble to their feet. Lily and Snape looked at each other with the smiles of conspirators. Remus would have bet they had already been practicing the Patronus charm. Lily sometimes got ideas from her meetings with the Slug club. She had gotten the idea of the anti-wolf potion on one of their gatherings and probably the Patronus charm had also come up in conversation at one of Slughorns exclusive parties. The Slytherin boy and Gryffindor girl stood next to each other with their eyes closed for a second and then shouted „Expecto Patronum“ in unison. White lights burst from both of their wands and – Perkins jumped from his desk – formed into the shapes of deers. Lily's was a really tiny beautiful doe, Severus' was a reindeer. The two Patronusses paraded through the classroom in unison and then jumped out of the open window where they vanished in the sunlight.

  
„Fifty points to each of you“, bellowed Perkins, clapping excitedly. „That was marvellously done. Amazing!“

Remus pulled his thoughts away from the moment and focus on a memory. The problem was, that there weren't too many happy memories to choose from. But then he saw something, something that was tainted with the black and white picture an enhanced smell of his wolf-days. He saw a huge black dog and a stag walk up to him and race alongside him in the moonlight.

  
„Expecto Patronum“, he shouted and there it was, the burst of light and the Patronus itself. At first he thought it was a wolf. It looked a whole lot like one, but then he recognized it as a German shepherd. Sirius laughed.

  
The German shepherd and a greyhound followed the doe and the reindeer out of the window. It took Remus a couple of seconds to realize that the latter had been Sirius' Patronus.

  
„Weird thing, isn't it?“ he said, after Perkins had stopped shaking their hands and given another 100 points to Gryffindor.

  
„What?“ asked Sirius, still chuckling.

„That they take similar shapes.“

  
Sirius shrugged. „Well we take similar shapes in real life, unless we are humans, so what did you expect to happen?“

  
„Expecto Patronum“, James yelled right at that moment, but only a flimsy whisp of white smoke dripped from the tip of his wand. Cheered on by his friends – including Peter who had not even managed a shapeless Patronus of any sort but still looked happier than James – he tried and tried over and over again. But nothing happened. He wasn't the only one who was unsuccessfull. At the end of the lesson most of the other students looked really disappointed as well as they marched out of the classroom.

  
„I am telling you, it is very unusual that there are a few among you who mastered this spell immediately“, said Perkins with a smile. „Keep practicing. All of you who have managed to at least conjure a shapeless Patronus by next week will be up for a treat.“


	2. Chapter 2

James Potter was in a gloomy mood throughout the next few days. Whatever his friends tried to cheer him up – it just made him even gloomier. Even Sirius' turning his pumpkin juice into white wine during dinner did not make him smile but had him storming off from the table and out of the Great Hall.

  
„What the hell was that?“ asked Sirius pulling James' goblet towards his side of the table and taking a sip. „It's pretty good. I thought I had overdone it and turned it into vinegar instead, but this is decent. No reason to run away like that. And he's missing pudding. James never misses pudding.“

  
Remus was shifting vegetable leftovers around on his plate with a fork. He looked even paler than usual. The full moon was only nights away and he already felt his body hair growing. He knew from experience that this wasn't true and he still looked normal, but it didn't help much. There had been steak for dinner and he had had to constrain himself not to just take it with both hands and gnaw away.

  
„Furry little problem?“, Sirius asked after watching him for a couple of minutes in silence.

Remus shrugged. „Either today or tomorrow. Lily's potion makes it less easy to tell. But on the other hand it also keeps me from becoming an insane killing beast, so I am not going to complain here.“

  
The plates vanished and seconds later, pudding appeared. Remus usually loved pudding, but when he was so close to the transformation the sight of chocolate mousse and vanilla cake made him sick. He got up. Sirius had been loading his plate with toffee and fruit-cake and looked up.

„Do I have to come with you?“ his eyes seemed to ask.

Remus shook his head. He would be fine for a few hours to come, he just wasn't to keen on vomiting all over the floor of the great hall.  
He did not go to the common room. In wolf-nights, he usually liked to be alone and there was no chance to achieve that in the Gryffindor tower. He made his way to the library and found himself a nice comfy place next to the restricted section. If he was quick, he could finish off the homework Professor McGonagall had given them before the moonlight started melting his brains.

  
Just when he had immersed in the chapter about transforming inanimate objects into living things, he heard someone walk down the aisle between the bookshelves toward the other side of the library. His ears and nose were already in wolf-mode and so it wasn't difficult to tell it was James who had probably also fled the common room to come here for some peace and quiet. He heard him picking up a couple of volumes and throwing them on one of the reading tables with loud thudding noises.  
„

There must be some trick behind it“, he heard his friend mutter under his breath. „It's just impossible that anyone except me and Peter can do it.“

So he was still after the Patronus spell. Remus sighed. James had that self-destructive tendency to work on a problem until either the problem gave way or he dropped to the floor from exhaustion. In his current state of mind it was pretty impossible he would ever conjure a Patronus, so he was probably gonna end up in the Hospital wing again, with Madam Pomfrey forcing spoonfuls of “Extra Exhaust Elixir” down his throat. They had been there before. It was a regular occurrence. About as regular as the full moon though usually the two did not coincide.

  
Remus set to work again. On any other night he would have gone over and tried to help as best as he could. But he did not feel up to it right now. He knew he would have to head down to the Womping Willow soon to make his way through the secret tunnel into the shrieking shack and he did not need other people's problems right now as his own problem was waiting to devour him any minute.

  
The door to the library was opened again just when James let out an angry sigh over one of the books, bringing his fist down onto the table. Short, quick, determined steps came in Remus' direction then also turned the other way. He knew who the new visitor was before she said a word.

  
“I was looking for you, James Potter.”

James snarled.

“Well, I guess you've found me, Evans. Though I have to say I'd rather you were looking for me somewhere else.”

Remus heard her fingers run over the pages of the books James had pulled down from the shelves.

“Working on your Patronus?”

“Trying to. But it's the same in all these books. All that happy memory rubbish. There must be something more substantial to it.”

“Happy memories are quite substantial, if you think about it”, Lily retorted.

“I just don't know... What did you use? Yours worked fine.”

“I used the day when I got my Hogwarts letter”, Lily said. “It was the first thing that came to my mind. Not sure whether it would work for you though. You were born into a wizard household. You knew you'd be getting that letter. I didn't. I spent ten years of my life believing I was some kind of weird oddity and Petunia did her best to make me feel bad about it all the time.”

James seemed to think for a while. Then Remus heard him push his chair back.

“Okay, I will try it again.”

“That's the spirit”, Lily said cheerily.

Remus couldn't help himself. He knew he was eavesdropping, he knew he was not supposed to hear any of this. But there was no way he'd be a noble person and leave the library silently now. And as long as he stayed in the library there was no place where his sharpened hearing would not catch every single sentence. He sighed. If he was supposed to overhear their conversation anyway he could watch them as well. Lily Evans coming after James Potter to help him with his homework was something that had never been there before. Someone had to take mental notes to tell it to the world. He got up and sneaked along the bookshelves until he had reached a row parallel to the one that Lily and James were standing in. Breathing slowly as to not draw their intention he positioned himself so he could see both of them through a gap where someone had pulled out a few volumes.

“Okay. So, be calm. That's the first thing. If you start pushing it, it's not going to work. Believe me. I was rubbish when I started practising”, Lily explained.

James frowned.

“So you and Snivellus did some extra-homework prior to the class, didn't you?” he sneered.

Lily let out a sigh.

“I think you should have outgrown your childish attitude by now. You're not as much of an idiot that it would be necessary for you to put other people down to raise yourself above them.”

“I'm not...”

“Yes you are. But now, focus on a happy memory. Perhaps we can find out what works for you. Let me think... try the day you became part of the Gryffindor Quidditch team.”

James closed his eyes. A deep line appeared between his brows. James Potter's thinking face made the boy look about ten years older. It was a sight rarely seen. Usually James either excelled at school without putting any effort in it or he didn't care enough to sit down and learn. His marks in history of magic were a catastrophe as were most of the potions he brewed. James had destroyed lots of kettles in class just because he had stirred too much or too little whilst watching Severus Snape brew another perfect potion. Snape was a pretty good pupil in most classes, but his skills in Potions were remarkable. Slughorn had invited him into his club once just because he had managed to brew Felix Felicis without help. And James – although he would never have admitted that in front of anyone – had been jealous as hell, because that was one more thing Snivellus and Lily had in common.

“Okay. I guess, I've got it. Expecto Patronum!”

There was a faint glimmer of silver, a faint glow and Lily clapped her hands.  
James didn't look half as positive as his Muggle born helper.

“Darned. I remembered that time we lost the match because of me”, he mumbled.

“It's a start”, said Lily. “We can figure out something. You see, it all depends on which memory you use. It just has to be strong enough.”

Remus felt a tickle run down his spine. He didn't have much time left. He knew this was the sign that told him to leave the castle immediately and get away from humans before he turned into a beast. But this scene was much too interesting to leave before the end of it, so he stayed, hands balled into fists so that his fingernails almost ripped his palms.  
James was thinking again. He tried the spell a couple of times, but none of the memories he chose led to more than the faint whisp of silverish light.  
After another half hour he sat down on one of the oak tables with a loud exasperated sigh.

“It's not working, Evans. I'm rubbish at this.”

Lily stood there, arms crossed, obviously contemplating something in her mind.

“Okay”, she finally said.

“Okay, what?”, James asked, bewildered by the determination in her voice.

“Okay, I am going to give you a damned memory and it's better going to work because otherwise I might have to hate myself until the end of time.”

“What are you talking about, you're going to....”

But he never finished the sentence. Lily had quickly taken a step forward, grabbed the back of his head and pressed her lips onto his. Remus gasped, but there was no possibility any of the two had heard him. James, who had been shellshocked for a few seconds, had obviously realised that one of his biggest dreams had just come true and was now snogging Lily Evans as if his life depended on it. Remus stole away as quickly and quietly as he could.

On the way to the Gryffindor tower he noticed the transformation was already too close. He did not have time to walk up to the common room and get his best friend. His hands had already started trembling, when he raised his wand. The Patronus burst forth and hovered in the air in front of him.

  
“Get Sirius”, he told the large shiny German Shepherd.

The Patronus nodded, turned around and vanished down the corridor while Remus broke into a run towards the Whomping Willow. He had almost reached the tree when a large black dog drew up beside him. Sirius transformed back into a human and grinned when his friend rolled his eyes at the sight.

“Sorry, Still no possibility to turn fur into clothes”, he said. “Wormtail is coming along as well, he's just got short feet whichever form he takes, so he'll be late. Where's Prongs?”

  
The moon was bright and shiny and Remus could feel his bones starting to stretch.

  
“Snogging Lily Evans in the library”, he managed to say between two shudders.

Sirius stopped dead in his stride.

“Wait a second. What?”

Remus just nodded. His teeth had begun to grow. Sirius shrugged.

  
“Well, then he's probably not going to be up for our infamous quartet tonight, I guess. Let's get going Moony. You already look like half of a wolf.”


	3. Chapter 3

“So, you're with Evans now, are you?”

Sirius was sitting on one of the tables in the common room and was eating a dog biscuit. To make it look less suspicious he had changed the shape a bit so it looked like a regular cookie. Remus could not help but notice the fact that Sirius looked as if he had just had a good night's rest whilst he looked, well, Remus Lupin had found the boy in the bathroom mirror to be white as a sheet with thick black rings around his eyes and the dishevelled air of someone who had spent the night running around as a werewolf and chasing --- well, whatever it was that had been stuck between his teeth when he woke up in the shrieking shack this morning after having turned back into his human form in the hour of sleep his animal-self had allowed him. Why did Sirius never look tired after the full moon?

“Remus?”, long narrow fingers held out a cookie to him. He took it without hesitation.

“So?”, Sirius repeated, resting the sole of his shoe on the back of James' chair, pushing him slightly back, tipping the chair to it's hind legs and forcing his friend to look up at him.

James shrugged.

“She kissed me. Once. Because she said that might help with the Patronus charm.”

“Wait a second... she kissed you? Initiative on her side? So you did not force yourself on her or anything?”

“When did I ever force myself...?”

Sirius pulled his feet back and lay down sideways on the table, head propped up on one elbow, pushing several books to the floor in the move.

“I always admired your self discipline in that regard, but dear me you've been after her for ages. And it was obvious she was only teasing you for quite a while now. You would have my full support for pinning her to the ground and... And Remus' full support as well, I guess, although he can't tell you at the moment, he's too busy yawning.”

“I... I... I... am definitely not supporting a... a... a... anything of that kind”, Remus managed to say between two yawns. He felt like he was going to fall into a coma on the spot, so he quickly sat down in the next armchair.

“So. Did it work?”

That was Peter speaking up. He sat right next to James and had been reading the Daily Prophet when Sirius and Remus had come trough the portrait hole. Remus couldn't remember whether Peter had been there during the night. Perhaps he had decided not to come along this time. Who knew? At least Peter looked very awake and very eager to know whether being kissed might be his salvation in terms of his absolute inability to conjure anything at all.

James hesitated, then nodded.

“I tried it this morning”, he said. “It works.”

“So, that's it then”, exclaimed Sirius getting to his feet. “And we've only got two hours of care of magical creatures to survive before we see what Perkins has in store for us. Oh... and I will say you've eaten a bad chocolate frog, Remus. No need to thank me, just go and get some rest. You look horrible.”

He threw the half-empty packet of dog biscuits into Remus' lap and the three boys left the common room just in time for the first lesson.

When Remus woke up from the noise of some people returning to the common room two hours later, he felt better. Not completely refreshed but it was a definite progress in comparison to feeling like you had been trampled on by a herd of Hippogriffs.

He got up, made an effort to make his hair look less messy and his clothes less creased, gave up and made his way to the Defence against the Dark Arts classroom.

The atmosphere in the room was tense. Some people were still practising. Most had managed to produce the shapeless version of the Patronus, but nobody but Sirius, Remus, Lily and Snape had managed to get the real thing going. Nobody except for James. If he spoke the truth that was. He had denied their request to show them his Patronus yet. Remus watched Lily who was observing James intently. She would be really upset if her plan did not work out.

Perkins entered the room and made the windows bang shut with one single wave of his wand. Then he lighted up a candlestick on the teacher's desk and the surroundings. Another wave of his wand and the door to his office swung open and a huge wooden chest hovered down the stairs and gently landed in front of the table. Almost all pupils leaned forward to have a better look at the object.

“This”, Perkins started without an introduction, “is the Chest of Wonders. A lot of artefacts like this one were created in the Middle Ages. They were meant to be entertaining but most people found them intimidating. I guess you've already had the witch hunts in History of Magic.”

Some pupils nodded, others mumbled. Some – including James and Sirius – would never have been able to say, whether they had had the witch hunts in History of Magic. Both of them had perfected the art of sleeping with their eyes wide open during that class.

Perkins started doin his usual stroll up and down the aisles between the desks.

“So. Can anyone tell me what these chests do and how they work?”

Not a single hand went up. Lily might have known the answer, Remus guessed, but she was still staring at James and didn't seem to notice anything else.

“The Chest of Wonders is a curious thing. It can detect wishes and – by some magic long lost to out memories – can make them true. There are certain limits though. The chest can only produce any object you would like, as long as the object in question is not bigger than the inside of the chest. There are a few tricks and this chest is actually much bigger than it looks, but just do not think of an elephant. It might not fit in comfortably.”

Perkins clearly enjoyed his little show. His eyes were sparkling when he made his way back to the teacher's desk.

“Those of you who have conjured a Patronus during the last week, even if it was just the shapeless version, are invited to join me for a small excursion. It was incredibly difficult to get Professor Dumbledore's consent to this by the way, I needed to bribe him with lemon drops. Those of you who master the task at hand will be rewarded by whatever the chest might give them.”

Excited whispers broke out all around the classroom. The chest itself had already been interesting, but an excursion sounded even better. Perkins had all of the pupils who had managed to cast the spell – all except for Peter and a few people from Slytherin including Avery and Mulciber who did their best to look cool and not jealous when Severus walked past them – stand around the chest and touch it with the tips of their fingers.

“Now, think of something you have wanted for a long time.”

There was a low rumble coming from the inside of the chest as twenty pupils followed his advice. Then, Perkins led the way through the castle. The Marauders had half expected him to go out to the Forbidden Forest, but instead the teacher led them down innumerable flights of steps. Down and down and down they went.

“We must be far below your common room now”, whispered Lily who was walking next to Snape. “I never knew there were that many storeys below the castle.”

Indeed, it seemed like there was almost as much space below the ground as was above. Unused space that was known to nobody but a few select people and the ghosts. Remus took a mental note to update the map as soon as they had a bit of spare time to include these passageways.

Finally, they reached a thick oak door that had been secured with a huge bolt from the outside. Perkins began to pull it back.

“This is your test”, he said. “Do not panic. I will be in the room and I will help out if you get into trouble. This is not easy magic, probably more difficult than anything you ever had to face. I am taking a risk here and – as I said – Dumbledore is not happy that I am doing this at all.”

The bolt finally slid open and Perkins nodded deteminedly.

“Groups of five please. That should leave us with four groups in total. First group to enter in two minutes.”, he said before entering the room and pulling the door closed behind him.

There was a bit of a discussion who should enter first. But finally it was settled that a bunch of Slytherin girls were to go in first. The second group consisted of Remus, Sirius, James, Lily and Snivellus. The girls entered the room and silence fell over the student in the corridor. All were listening intently. For what felt like hours there was no sound at all and then – a loud cry of agony from one of the girls, Perkin's voice shouting something, and then the five came staggering out of the room, pale-faced and sobbing, unable to tell what had upset them so much. Lily gulped.

“I can understand why Dumbledore is not happy Perkins is doing this” she said quietly.

They got their wands out, nodded at each other and entered the room. It was a dungeon as far as they could tell. Remus and Sirius had both used Lumos to cast a bit of light around but it only illuminated their direct surroundings. Old brick walls, a low ceiling, a slightly damp floor. It was an unwelcoming place. And it was cold in here, so much colder than it had been in the corridor. The hair on lupins back stood up. Something was in here and it felt really wrong.

Lily and Severus had taken a few steps towards the middle of the room.

“I feel horrible”, murmured Lily. Her hands were shaking and she looked very pale.

Suddenly, three hooded figures burst forth from the shadows. They seemed to be floating rather than walking and the garments they were wearing looked as if woven out of darkness rather than fabric. Their faces were hidden, but Remus could see their hands, skeletal, inhuman hands. He remembered seeing a picture in one of Lily's Muggle art books where death – a skeleton in a dark cloak – was playing the fiddle. The hands of these creatures looked exactly like the hands of death on the violin strings. Lily and Severus were frozen on the spot. Pure panic stood in Lily's green eyes.

“Damned, he brought Dementors to Hogwarts”, Sirius finally managed to say, before he sprang forward wielding his wand.

“Expecto Patronum!”

The German Shepherd raced at the first of the hooded figures and drove it back into the darkness. That was all Remus had needed to concentrate.

“Expecto Patronum!”, he yelled. The wolf followed the example set by the dog shaped Patronus, drove the second figure back and vanished.

“Aren't they supposed to last longer?”, asked Sirius. Remus shrugged. His thoughts had slowed down, he felt like the cold was creeping into his heart and suddenly saw the faces of his parents in front of him. Their disgust when they had found out he had been bitten. The hatred.

“Expecto Patronum”, that was Lily's voice. One of the Demetors had sneaked up behind him and was now tumbling back, chased by a silver doe. The doe turned on the spot and chased the third creature away from Severus, who had fallen to his knees. The figure had been leaning over him, its hand up at the rim of its hood as if it was about to pull it back and – Remus shuddered. He remembered the paragraph about the Dementor's kiss. But surely none of these Dementors would seriously harm a pupil? Not even if that pupil was a Slytherin by the name of Severus Snape.

There was a hiss and the three Dementor's came zooming back, but they were not alone. A fourth and a fifth one emerged. One Dementor for each of them. It would not work. Remus knew this could not work, because he could not fight them. He was only half a wizard and half a monster. He could not do proper magic, because his blood had been ruined. He wasn't even worthy of attending Howarts. He wasn't worthy of living. Something like him should have been killed long ago. He was better off dead.

“Oh no, you won't, you filthy creature. Expecto Patronum.”

Sirius leapt over him, only paces after the German shepherd. He was holding off two Dementors at once now and had obviously found out how to keep the Patronus from vanishing after the first attack. The German Shepherd started running in circles around them and slowly the weight lifted off Remus' chest again. He noticed that he had fallen to the ground at some point. Then he looked over at Lily, Severus and James who were not faring half as well as him and Sirius.

Severus was casting one Patronus charm after the other but his doe did not stay in shape but became a wispy smoky shapeless light almost immediately after breaking forth from his wand. Lily was on her knees, crying and hiding her head in her hands while one of the hooded creatures was bending low over her. James seemed to have zoomed out of the world completely. He was standing in the middle of the room surrounded by three Dementors and had his eyes closed.

“What the heck is he doing?”, Sirius mumbled, exhaustion in his voice. “That Dementor's going to get Evans. Prongs! Get yourself together, man!”

James stirred from his stupor, clutched his wand tighter, opened his eyes and smiled at the three Dementors. His voice echoed through the dungeon.

“Expecto Patronum!”

The light was blazingly white and illuminated the whole room for a second before it formed into a huge stag, brighter than any of the Patronuses the friends had cast. It went straight at the Dementor in front of it, its head lowered, antlers pointing at the creature. The creature shrieked and drew back into the darkness as did the other two that had been attacking the boy. The stag turned on its hind legs and rushed at the two leftover Dementors, chasing them away as well.

They heard a door bang in the darkness, a muttered spell and then emerged Professor Perkins, clapping and grinning. He looked drawn and white as a sheet though.

“Brilliant performance. Thirty points to Gryffindor for Mr Black's idea to create a safe circle around him and Mr Lupin. Fifty points to Gryffindor for Mr Potter fighting off five Dementors in one go. That was very impressive, Mr Potter. I guess we will call this an end, though.”

He turned away but they could hear him muttering to himself. “Tried to perform the kiss on a student. And the ministry say they are under control. They're lying to themselves, they are.”

The two remaining groups were made to cast a Patronus in front of everyone else to show that they had learned how to do it. Most of them were not unhappy about having avoided the Dementors. The five girls had finally managed to tell their horror story and frightened their friends quite a bit. Some were still sulking though, as they were sure they could have “pulled a Potter” and beaten the whole Dementor lot single handedly.

Sirius was supporting Remus who was still feeling as if he was going to throw up any moment. Professor Perkins had offered him, Severus and Lily some chocolate, but it was the day after the wolf and the wolf hated anything sweet, so he had declined.

James was walking next to them, when Lily, who had made sure Severus was all right, came up to him.

“So... did you use it?”, she asked with a smile.

James smiled back. “Of course.”

“Well it worked pretty well, don't you think?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“I liked the shape, by the way.”

“Er... yeah... thanks.”

For a few meters they walked in silence, then Lily looked up again.

“So. Do you want to join me for the next Hogsmeade weekend?”

James stared at her in disbelief before starting a rattling answer that contained a lot of “er”s and “umm”s but came down to yes, yes he wanted to join her and he was already looking forward.

Sirius elbowed Remus' side so hard that he almost cried out.

 


	4. Epilogue

The Chest of Wonders was sitting in the exact same spot where they had left it. Only this time, it was open. Their group of five was the last one left in the class room. All the other pupils who had conjured a decent Patronus in front of Perkins had already taken their loot and left.

“So”, Perkins said looking into the chest. “I have to say, I am a bit confused. There is this”, he drew out a huge yellow bag of McNeil's dog treats. 

Sirius jumped forward and grabbed it, looking as if he had been offered a bag of gold.  
Perkins looked bewildered. The rest of them laughed. The next thing he drew out of the chest was a brilliantly shining new cattle. Severus took it, making an effort not to look too happy. He did not look at Lily as he turned on the spot and left the room without another word.  
Lily turned her head looking after him. She looked worried and sad. Remus knew that she must be aware of the fact that Severus Snape adored her and that she had hurt him greatly by asking James out for the next Hogsmeade weekend when she had spent all the prior weekends with her Slytherin friend.  
Perkins cleared his throat.

“Well. That's convenient I guess. Because... I think that this is yours, Remus.”

He held out a phial of dark liquid. Remus sighed. He had wished for a cure, although he had known there was none. The closest thing to the cure was the potion that Lily brewed him every month. This only confirmed what he already knew and wordlessly and unceremoniously he shoved it into the back pockets of his trousers.  
Perkins stared into the chest, pointed his wand at it, muttered a spell, then shrugged looking from Lily to James and back again.

“Did the two of you by any chance forget to think about something you wanted while you were touching the chest? Because otherwise, I'll have to get that thing repaired. There's nothing left now.”

Lily and James looked at each other, then at the chest, then at each other again.

“Dear me”, murmured Sirius next to Remus, tearing open the dog biscuit bag producing a loud noise to disturb the silence and handing one of the biscuits over to his friend. “Can we just leave before you two start that whole 'The only thing I wished for would not have fit into that chest' thing and start snogging again? Or could I suggest you just do that outside of this classroom? Somewhere cosy? On the Astronomy Tower or in some dark corner where you're out of the way?”

Remus almost choked on his dog biscuit. 

“Seconded”, said James smiling as he reached for Lily's hand and turned towards the door. “See you later.”

THE END


End file.
